


The Surface Breaks

by BingeMac



Series: QLFC Procrastination [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Ending, Book Club, Chaptered, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Slytherin Pride, The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 13,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23905942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BingeMac/pseuds/BingeMac
Summary: Draco and Astoria: a (terribly) brief love story.(Procrastination Thread: Book Club)
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Daphne Greengrass/Blaise Zabini, Luna Lovegood/Theodore Nott
Series: QLFC Procrastination [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695442
Kudos: 17





	1. The Surface Breaks

**Author's Note:**

> A/N- This is for the QLFC Procrastination Thread: Book Club, in which there will be a total of 20 drabbles, each with a unique prompt based on the book The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill. I’ve decided that all of these particular drabbles will be about Draco and Astoria. Most of this will be in chronological order and the stories should flow naturally from one to the next without too much confusion as to what is going on. I’m trying to get better about writing drabbles based on a variety of prompts, and this was really the perfect excuse to practice.
> 
> (I'm still working on some of the chapters and will post the rest once they are written.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Title] The Surface Breaks  
> Word Count- 577

Astoria sighed into his mouth as they snogged each other senseless behind the old Italian church.

“They’ll be looking for us,” she gasped out between breathless kisses.

Draco simply hummed in agreement as he gently pushed her against the church wall and began littering kisses down her neck. Astoria groaned as Draco light stubble tickled her collarbone. 

How was he so good at this? How many girls—

Nope. Don’t go there, Astoria. Just enjoy this.

Astoria wrapped her arms around Draco’s neck, leg emerging through the slit in her silver bridesmaid’s gown to hook behind Draco and pull him closer. She felt Draco smile that devilish smile against her skin and the next thing she knew, she was being lifted off of the ground. She wrapped her legs around Draco’s waist without thought and forcibly directed his face back up to hers so they could continue snogging.

Draco drifted toward an old stone slab and set Astoria down on it, his body still situated between her thighs.

Daphne or Blaise could walk around the corner at any moment, but Tori really didn’t care. The bride and groom would probably just make inappropriate jokes at their expense for the rest of the night anyway. She could handle that. 

Astoria pulled Draco closer by the collar of his dress robes, her tongue diving into his mouth like she had a right to be there. His hands slid up under her dress and caressed her thighs—

Crack!

Draco and Astoria broke apart and she hopped off the stone slab in utter confusion. “Wha…?”

Glancing over her shoulder, she found the surface of the ancient stone slab had split down the middle under her weight. Draco and Tori stared at it for a long moment.

Then Draco started laughing.

Tori turned and glared at him. “What are you laughing about?! That thing was probably a thousand years old, Draco, and I just broke it with my arse!”

Draco laughed harder, doubling over and wheezing like he’d never heard anything funnier in his life.

She smacked him on the arm several times. “This. Is. Not. Funny.” Draco clutched at his arm and tried to stifle his giggles to no avail. “Ugh,” she screamed. “Draco, stop! Help me fix it!”

Draco’s chuckles finally died down and he grinned down at Astoria as if she were the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. Tori cast a repair charm on the old stone artifact and when that didn’t work, she tried again. And again. She was so embarrassed. “Draco, it’s not working,” she said, unintentionally pouting her lips up at him.

The man didn’t even glance at the stone. He took a step closer to Astoria and wrapped her in his arms. Her head only came up to his collarbone and after a moment, she rested her cheek on his chest and sighed.

“Don’t worry,” he rumbled. His voice was deep and she could feel the words’ vibration against her skin. “I won’t tell anyone that you sat on a sturdy historical artifact and broke it in half.”

Tori scoffed and slapped him hard on the chest. “That made me sound like I weigh a hundred stone!”

“If you weighed a hundred stone…” Draco said, his voice trailing off into a teasing smirk. 

He suddenly leaned down and flung Astoria effortless over his shoulder. She hurled profanities and slaps against his back. Draco simply laughed. 

“Then I must be the strongest man in the world!”


	2. The Man by Her Side (has driven her to insanity)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Title] The Man by Her Side (has driven her to insanity)  
> Word Count- 518

Draco didn’t leave Astoria’s side throughout the entire wedding reception.

It was maddening.

It’s not as if he were being particularly bothersome or overly affectionate. In fact he was the perfect gentleman. But… well, he was acting like they had attended the wedding together… as a couple… like they were each other’s plus ones.

And they most certainly were not (no matter how much she had dreamed them to be.)

She probably wouldn’t see Draco again after tonight. He was clearly flirting with her because he had no better options, which was why his constant presence at her side was starting to aggravate.

Theo flagged them down while dinner was being served, asking for advice on his Best Man speech.

“It sounded good to me, mate,” said Draco.

“You know how much I love your eloquence,” said Tori. “You really needn’t have bothered asking for input. It’s perfect.”

Theo snorted, his cheeks reddening at the high praise. Astoria had told him this truth about himself many times before, but it never seemed to stick inside that thick brain of his.

“I especially like the part where you warned Blaise off pursuing your pseudo-sister,” Draco mused.

“Oh yeah? You liked that? Well, it looks like I’ll be having a similar conversation with you in the near future, you prat.”

Draco laughed and Astoria startled at the ease with which he let Theo’s statement just roll right off his back. How could he just let this charade continue? How could he be so callous with her heart? Draco really was a Prat.

Astoria turned and strode away. She heard Draco bid Theo a quick good luck and then the soft pit-pat of his leather shoes on marble floor as he caught up to her.

“Hey, you okay?”

Astoria was certainly not okay, but like hell was she letting Draco know. “I just find it so strange how you’re able to keep up this act just to annoy me. It’s like you want everyone to think we’re together.”

“Yeah, probably because I want us to actually be together,” Draco replied. He smiled at her for a moment, hope in his eyes. When Astoria simply blinked like a bloody owl, his grin fell, replaced by a sneer. “How foolish am I, that I thought you were thinking similarly?”

It took Astoria a moment too long to comprehend what Draco was saying. She’d read him all wrong tonight. Gods she must have been mad to think Draco would be so callous towards her. That wasn’t Draco anymore. Draco had been different since the war.

Astoria surged out a hand to stop him in his tracks when he made to walk away. She pulled on his wrist until he faced her once more.

“I plead momentary insanity. Forgive me,” Astoria implored.

Draco stared at Astoria for a long time, almost looking through her, into her, right to her very soul.

A small smirk appeared on Draco’s handsome face. “Do you want to get married?”

Yeah… so Draco had officially driven her to insanity, because she didn’t even hesitate when she answered.

“Yes.”


	3. Why Am I A Fish Person?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [AU] Mermaid  
> Word Count- 536

_“I have to return to the sea,” he told me. He raised a pale arm to fiddle with a blonde strand of my hair that had come free of its braid._

_“But I need you. I need you, Draco.” My voice sounded whiny even to my own ears, but I didn’t care. This was the the worst possible outcome that I could have imagined._

_“You don’t need me. You don’t need anyone, my love.” He stroked a cold hand down my cheek until it was cupping the right side of my face. He held my face in his hand like I was the precious thing in the world._

_“Oh Draco, why must you go? I can’t bear that you’re leaving.”_

_“I will do everything in my power to return to you, my beautiful Astoria. When I am king, I will change things in Atlantis. I promise you this one last thing: you will survive without me until then.”_

_“I will wait for you until the end of my days if that’s what it takes.”_

_My prince bowed his head. “I know you will,” he whispered into the quiet night. There was no one else around for miles, but I knew those four words were meant for me and me alone._

_“Please, take this with you.” I held out my necklace with the pearl incrusted pendant Draco had commented on during our first ever encounter._

_“I couldn’t—“_

_“Take it,” I urged, thrusting the piece of jewelry into his palm. “And remember me.”_

_He swept me into a deep kiss that went on endlessly._

_“I could never forget you,” he promised when we broke apart._

_And with that, Draco darted into the ocean and never looked back. I watched until his legs that had turned into fins at the touch of the seawater disappeared into the horizon—_

“Wait! Why am I a fish person?”

Astoria glanced up from where she had been packing boxes to stare at Draco in confusion. She looked at the notebook in his hands, and then suddenly back at Draco with wide eyes and cheeks as red as fire.

“Where did you— how did you— I don’t—“

Draco laughed as he closed the notebook and tossed it onto a pile of her other things. It was on top of the pile labeled “Keep.” He would definitely be returning to that notebook later. It was the most adorable thing he’d ever read.

“Draco, no. I was fourteen when I wrote that. Please don’t think anything of it—“

“I am honored,” he interrupted. Draco grinned at his fiancee from across her childhood bedroom. He tilted his head playfully to catch Tori’s gaze with his own. “Truly.”

“Oh.” Astoria blushed even brighter still, but returned to her packing with a smile on her face.

“I’m just not sure why I turned into a weird fish man.”

“YOU WERE A MERMAID!”

Draco laughed as Tori crawled across the carpet, growling and tackling him to ground.

Draco grinned up at her. He snagged a lock of her blond hair that had escaped her braid and pushed it behind her ear. Then he cupped her cheek.

“Whatever you say, love.”


	4. I Want This Right Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [AU] Royalty  
> Word Count- 814

They managed to only unpack the wine and their books by nightfall… mostly because they drank a lot of wine while they stacked the books.

“To be fair, that’s really all one needs in life,” quipped Draco.

“Sure,” Astoria agreed. “I mean, who needs lanterns, am I right?”

“Exactly. We’re wizards,” Draco added. “We can make light whenever we want. Lumos.”

“If we’re wizards, why are we unpacking our lives like common muggles?” Astoria asked for the eighth time that day.

The top half of Draco’s face was cast in shadow as he held his wand under his chin. “Ah. We are wizards; that is true. But we are not lazy wizards. Nox.”

Astoria rolled her eyes.

“Besides,” Draco added as he returned to the bookshelf he had been rearranging, “this way we can put things exactly where we want them. For instance, I want this over here.“ Draco had plucked one of Astoria’s old notebooks from the shelf and had taken it to their new sofa. He flopped down onto the soft leather cushion and began flipping casually through the pages until he found where’d he presumedly left off in her story. He then looked up and winked at her.

Astoria heaved a put-upon sigh, but her fiancee looked so excited to read more of her embarrassing teenage fairytale that she just… “Ugh, fine. I need to grab some more wine, first.”

~*~

_The tide took me out into the ocean. I watched with bated breath in my lungs for my prince to emerge from the black depths of the sea._

_His letter said he’d find me. All I had to do was wait._

_The sun had nearly set when I saw the first signs of my beloved. As he broke the surface of the water, I felt my breath squeezed from my lungs in a gasp. He was more handsome than I even remembered. His white-blond hair was slicked back with the ocean water, and like an angel’s halo around his head he wore a most dazzling silver crown._

_And he was shirtless—_

“It does not say that!”

“It most certainly does, dear.”

“Oh my Gods, I must have been delirious when I wrote this part.”

“Yeah, I bet you had spotted me readying for bed or something.”

“You’re the worst. And I love you. Now, continue…”

_“I missed you. How is the kingdom?” I asked._

_“The battles have lessoned, but I fear this lull in the fighting is merely a brief respite.”_

_“Oh my. I hope you are staying safe.”_

_He smiled sadly up at me in my little boat. “I try to be safe so I can come home to you, but a man of royal descent should always do what is just and right. Oh how I long to return to our life in that secret cottage in the woods, though. I miss you so.”_

_I placed my fingers over his where they clung to the side of my dinghy. “I will be waiting when the war is won, my brave Prince—”_

Draco stopped reading abruptly and it took Astoria a moment for her alcohol-addled brain to realize her fiancee looked upset.

“What’s wrong?”

Draco looked up with wide eyes and promptly tried to school his features into something a little less… frowny. He attempted to laugh it off. “I can cope with you making me into some kind of fish monster—“

“Mermaid,” Astoria corrected instantly.

“But a prince? I just don’t… I just…“ His fake smile slipped away in an instant and Draco sighed. “What a foolish child I was, proclaiming myself the Prince of Slytherin.” Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. “Merlin, I was such a spoiled little brat of a prince. I hate that word now. Prince,” he spat.

Astoria got up from her seat and rounded the coffee table to sit at Draco’s side. She laid a comforting hand on Draco’s shoulder and immediately felt him unclench. 

“I wrote this chapter during my fourth year,” Astoria said, her voice calm and unwavering. “That year, you… well, you were different.”

Draco stiffened again, but Astoria ran a soothing hand down his back and he gradually returned to normal.

“Yeah, that wasn’t a good year for me.”

“I know,” said Astoria.

They sat in silence for a moment. Astoria continued to rub his back.

“Hey…” It was a long time before Draco continued his thought. “When you wrote this chapter, was it in the hopes that your real-life prince would return to normal?”

Astoria ran her fingernails through his long blond hair. 

“There’s no returning to normal after you’ve been to war,” she whispered, like it was some ancient proverb passed down from generation to generation.

She saw Draco smile out of the corner of her eye. 

“Besides,” Astoria added. “I like the version of my prince I got now. He’s pretty bloody spectacular.”


	5. The Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [AU] Fairytale  
> Word Count- 455

A week after they moved into their new home, Draco flipped over to a new page in Astoria’s epically long romance and frowned.

It was blank.

“Wait, where’s the ending?”

Astoria glanced over at him from her vanity table. “What?”

“The ending? Where is it?”

“I didn’t write an ending,” Astoria admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, returning to her nail-polishing.

Draco’s frown deepened.

That wasn’t right. There was only one type of ending for a love story as grand and romantic as mermaid prince Draco and human farm-girl Astoria.

This injustice needed to be rectified immediately.

~*~

_Prince Draco had been cursed by his enemies just as the war came to an end. They had won and saved the kingdom, but only true love’s kiss could awaken Draco now. His comrades searched every nook and cranny of the vast ocean to find her, but they had no luck._

_Then someone suggested the surface world._

_Count Theodore Nott suddenly remembered that Prince Draco had disappeared for a few months years ago. And when he returned to the war, he had a terrible sadness in his eyes. A girl had clearly won the prince’s heart. A human girl._

_But how was he going to find her? Theo knew nothing of the surface world, so when he burst out of the water a short while later to start his search, he was surprise how quickly it came to an immediate end._

_There was a girl with hair of straw and eyes of the sea waiting for him in a boat._

_“A dream told me to be here,” she explained. “What has happened to my Draco?”_

_Count Theo and Duke Blaise carried their prince to the shore where his beloved awaited. She didn’t even wait until he was out of the water. She kissed him full on his fish mouth._

_Draco awoke with a start and found his beloved staring down at him. “You saved me,” he croaked._

_“Always.”_

_They lived happily ever after._

“Well, what did you think?” Draco asked the next morning as Astoria looked up from the notebook in her hands. He watched a tear fall down her cheek.

“Ugh,” she cried, wiping her face with back of her hand. “For Merlin’s sake, Draco! I just put on mascara!”

He watched his future wife run to the ensuite toilet, hiding her face in her hands. He smiled, and figured he’d just had a very successful endeavor with the written word.

Astoria popped her head out of the bathroom after a moment, and added an ear-splitting, “AND HE DOESN’T HAVE FISH LIPS! MY VERSION OF MERMAIDS LOOK HUMAN ON THE TOP PORTION OF THEIR BODIES! I DON’T HAVE SOME KIND OF FISH FETISH!”


	6. The One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Relationship] Sisters  
> Word Count- 450

“How has the co-habitation been faring?” Daphne asked, trying to sound as casual as possible as she sipped her cup of tea.

On the other side of the dressing curtain, she heard the seamstress’s whispered directions as she instructed her Tori into the next wedding dress.

“Wonderful!” Astoria replied. “Oh, Draco wanted to have you and Blaise over for dinner next Saturday. And Theo and Luna. He’s sending out these formal invitations, like we don’t all see each other every other day. Isn’t that adorable?”

Daph smirked around the lip of her teacup. That was pretty adorable. “We’ll put that on our calendar.”

“Yay! I can’t wait for you all to see our home. Draco’s weirdly good at interior decorating. He obviously gets it from his mum.”

“Have you met his mum yet… or re-met her, I suppose?”

“Haha. Yeah. That was fun and not at all intimidating. I still felt like a schoolgirl in her presence,” Astoria said from behind the curtain. “Plus, his aunt was there. It was the most nervous I have ever been in my life!”

Daphne laughed, remembering her own meeting with Blaise’s mother. Her husband didn’t really care for his mother very much, but she’d still worried that she’d end up making a bad impression. 

She had. Blaise married her anyway.

“Okay, I’m ready,” called Astoria. “You want to see?”

“Is this the one?” Daphne asked. She’d already seen a dozen dresses that afternoon and didn’t really want to waste her time on another dud. Astoria was very picky when she felt like it. That’s why Daphne had been so surprised when Tori told her she’d be marrying Draco after less than one date. Astoria Greengrass had never been the impulsive type before.

Astoria pulled back the curtain and stepped into the light. “It’s the one.”

And it was.

The dress was strapless with a sweetheart neckline. A silver belt cinched her waist and the bottom was a mass of tule and lace that led into a long train. The seamstress placed a long sheer vale on Tori’s head and it merged into the train as if it were part of the dress.

Daphne was speechless.

Tori wiped her eyes as they had begun leaking happy tears. “What do you think?”

“I think…” Daphne stared at his sister for a long time. She’d never seen Tori so happy in her life. She was practically glowing. “I think Draco Malfoy is the luckiest man on the planet.”

Tori giggled and spun around in a circle. She looked ten years old again, carefree and playful.

Daphne rolled her eyes. 

Fine. If he made her look this radiant, Draco Malfoy could marry Astoria Greengrass. Whatever.


	7. His Beautiful, Smart, Pragmatic Daughters (and their idiot husbands)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Relationship] Father/Daughter  
> Word Count- 394

Grayson Greengrass raised two daughters almost entirely on his own.

Daphne grew up with a coldness in her eyes. She walked with her head held high, and her back as straight as as an arrow. She didn’t make friends easily and always seemed to accept things as they were, a realist through and through.

So Grayson was extremely surprised when he first met the love of Daphne’s life.

To be frank, Grayson found Blaise Zabini to be a complete and utter prick. 

Blaise walked around like he owned the world. His gaze held nothing but boredom and contempt. He didn’t seem to give two erumpent turds about anything. Grayson could not see what his beautiful, smart, pragmatic daughter saw in this total waste of space.

And then Blaise came to him and asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Grayson saw the mask fall away, saw this boy open up when he so clearly never opened up. He saw the boy make an effort.

Grayson had walked Daphne down the aisle a year later. He’d never seen Daphne or Blaise smile like that in his life.

Then, there was Astoria, with her wide eyes and upbeat optimism. Grayson was never sure where she got that peppy personality of hers, because even his wife had never been so bright and creative and funny, even on her best day. But there was Astoria, making friends wherever she went, speaking her mind when she probably shouldn’t, and daydreaming during every available free moment.

Despite all that, Astoria was strangely picky when it came to boys. She hadn’t dated at Hogwarts (thank Merlin) and she’d never brought a boyfriend home to meet her father, so he assumed she’d never had one.

She’d still never brought a boyfriend home to meet him as she introduced Draco Malfoy as her fiancee.

To say that Grayson was surprised would be an understatement. He’d been absolutely gobsmacked.

This boy?! This former Death Eater?! This man who looked at his daughter like… like… well…

Like he’d loved Astoria longer than he’d even been alive…

Like he’d loved her in a past life…

Like he’d still love her in the next one…

Grayson walked Astoria down the aisle four months later. Draco Malfoy wouldn’t have been Grayson’s first choice of husband for his beautiful, smart, pragmatic daughter.

But clearly he was Astoria’s only choice.


	8. If They Tried

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Trope] Absent Mother  
> Word Count- 348  
> Warnings- talk of serious illness

Astoria stooped down to lay the bouquet of wildflowers at her mother’s gravestone. She rose back up and slipped her fingers into her husband’s grasp.

“How old were you?”

“Four,” she answered. “Old enough to remember the way she smelled… Like honey. She smelled like honey. That’s all I really remember of her, though.”

Draco squeezed her hand gently, comfortingly, knowingly. She squeezed back.

Astoria heard her husband audibly swallow and she closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable question.

“Will you get it?”

His question was carried away by the gentle breeze. He didn’t ask again though. She was pretty sure he couldn’t ask that question any louder if he tried.

It was sort of touching, in a way.

“The odds are 50/50.”

“Oh,” he said, like he’d been punched in the stomach. She glanced over at her husband. Draco was so pale he was almost translucent.

She squeezed his hand harder.

“I knew this already,” he said. “Daphne told me all of this ages ago, so I knew… So why do I feel like I’m hearing this for the first time?”

Astoria knew the answer to that question. Hearing the odds now felt different because Draco was standing in front of her mother’s grave, a woman she hardly remembered, and he wanted a family with this girl who might die. He wanted his children to have a mother.

She wanted her children to have a mother. 

Or she didn’t want children.

She said none of this aloud, of course. She didn’t think she’d be able to give voice to her thoughts if she tried.

They returned home a few hours later. They made supper, read books by the fire, shared a cuppa before bed, and slept curled in each other’s arms. The next morning they were back to their normal sarcastic selves.

However, her mother’s grave hung over their heads like an executioners scythe. 

When it came down on them both, it came down with authority… but they still had a little bit of time before that happened. 

Though, not that much time.


	9. The Big Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Trope] A Loveless Marriage  
> Word Count- 535  
> Warnings- depression, off-screen character death

Draco had been keeping note of the little things lately. 

Astoria braided her hair and asked Draco to make sure the ribbon was straight. Astoria threatened to paint his toenails when he laid his feet out by the fire to warm them. Astoria laughed as he read their letter from Pansy detailing her new life as an auror-in-training. Astoria ran her fingers along his palm late at night, their bare legs intertwined and sticky with sweat. She traced the lines of his palm and whispered fake predictions into his neck. They laughed until they couldn’t properly breath.

But it wasn’t really until Draco washed his teacup after supper and Astoria had plucked it from his waiting hand and set to drying it with a towel that he fully understood.

Draco’s parents hadn’t had a happy marriage.

When that though struck, it struck hard. Being a by-product of a loveless marriage was not something a child wanted or hoped for or even considered to be possible. He’d already been feeling extremely unnerved by this revelation and on the verge of falling into a deep depression when he found out his father died in Azkaban.

There was no funeral.

Draco curled into a ball on his bed and stared at the blank, white wall across from him for hours.

Astoria came in from time to time with bits of food. Sometimes she’d sit in the rocking chair in the corner and read aloud from some horribly bad historical romance. Once, she stood just out of his eyesight, leaned in, glanced curiously at that blank wall he’d been staring at, and then left him alone again.

She returned an hour later with a hammer and nail.

Draco blinked. “What are you doing?” His voice was harsh with disuse.

His wife tapped the wall, listening for something. She tapped a few more times until she seemed please by the sound it made. She brought the nail up and hammered it into place.

Then she left him alone again.

Draco stared at that nail, brows furrowed, until curiosity got the best of him. He rolled out of bed, wrapped the quilt around his shoulders and headed downstairs.

Astoria was standing in their study, paint brush in hand, squinting at an easel.

Draco stood in the doorway and smiled.

“You definitely have a fish fetish.”

Astoria startled and clutched at her chest. “Merlin’s left tit, Draco, you scared me half to death.” Then she frowned when his words finally registered. She gaped, outraged. “AND I DO NOT! This is just a painting of the of ocean! I didn’t even include any sea life!” She scoffed. “I just wanted to give you something nice to look at while you laid in bed all day. Pardon me for being such a thoughtful, loving wife.”

Draco felt the first smile in days bloom on his face and he shuffled over to his wife. He wrapped her in his blanket so they looked like a big baked potato.

“Gods, I love you.”

“You just got blue paint all over your mum’s quilt.”

“We’re wizards. We can fix it.”

“Oh… right.”

So yeah… loveless marriages.

Draco and Astoria’s marriage was anything but loveless.


	10. Beyond the Canvas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Color] Blue  
> Word Count- 1073  
> Warnings- panic attack

Astoria had been painting nothing but scenes of the sea for weeks now and Draco was about to lose his mind. He couldn’t take much more of her false blues that stopped at the edge of the canvas. He needed the real thing.

So, even though it was just barely spring in England and the clouds were out in full force, Draco took his wife sailing.

When the shoreline was nothing but a blurry brown line in the distance, Draco lowered the sails and let the boat drift in the calm ocean water.

“We’ve been married nearly a year and I’m still finding myself surprised by the things you know how to do, Draco Malfoy.”

Draco traversed the short deck and plopped down by his wife, drinking in the sight of her bright yellow dress surrounded by the vast blue of the ocean surrounding her. She smiled timidly up at him from under her large floppy hat.

“I had my wand revoked for a year after my trial. I learned a lot of things during that time. Things I never thought I’d try.” Draco shrugged, glancing sheepishly around his sailboat, his cheeks pinking when he felt Astoria’s steady gaze on him.

“Like cooking?”

“Yeah.”

“And horseback riding?”

“Yup.”

“And interior decorating?”

Draco chuckled. “Well, we had to get the Manor back into suitable living conditions somehow.”

He glanced at Astoria out of the corner of his eye. She nodded knowingly and he sighed in relief, very glad he didn’t have to explain his statement any further. He wasn’t sure he could talk about it, even though it had been ten years since the Dark Lord’s stay in the Malfoy family home. He still had nightmares about that year, about that man. He probably always would. 

“So why sailing?” asked Astoria. “What in the world made you buy a boat and learn how to pilot it?”

Draco swallowed around a sudden lump in his throat. “Well…” 

He paused and finally turned his body toward Astoria, focusing all of his attention on her. She had one hand clutching the wooden bench beneath her and the other weighing down the big floppy hat on her head to keep it from flying away in the slight breeze. Her hair was in one long braid that draped across her left shoulder and her pink lips were twisted up into a curious smile.

Draco smiled back and finished his thought with a little more confidence. “When I couldn’t perform real magic, I searched for the next best thing.” He looked up at the mast and the folded white canvas that clung to either side of it. “Manipulating the parts of a sailboat to harness the wind was the closest thing to magic that I could find.”

Astoria inched her hand along the bench until her pinky butted up against Draco’s leg. “That explains the name then.”

Ventus. 

He’d named his boat after the spell that emitted a spiral of wind from one’s wand. Children learned that kind of magic very early on in the schooling. Draco found that wizards took the simplicity of that spell for granted.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Astoria asked.

Draco gaze shot up to meet Astoria’s. “Of course.”

She licked her lips and her eyes glowed fiercely in the ray of sunshine that seemed to beam down on them and them alone through the part in the gray clouds.

“I am deathly afraid of the ocean.”

Draco stared at her for a long time. He waited for the punchline. It never came.

“Are you— Wait, wait wait. Hold on. Are— are you serious?”

Tori nodded her head profusely, her eyes wide and panicked. Draco glanced down at the hand clutching the seat beneath them, at the way her knuckles had turned white from the force of her death grip on it.

“Oh, for Salazar’s sake! Love, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I’m okay if we’re moving! Like earlier, I was fine, totally fine, completely fine, but now we’re stopped and I feel like we’re stranded out here in the middle of the ocean, and like I’ll never see land again, and I’m starting to freak out, Draco! I’m really starting to lose it!”

Draco shot out of his seat and immediately began the process of unfurling the sails and turning the boat back toward shore. Once everything was in position and the boat was once again slicing through the sea water, Draco dashed to his wife’s side and wrapped her protectively in his embrace.

She was hyperventilating a bit and Draco whipped off her hat and threaded his fingers in her hair, pulling her head to his chest.

“Hey, listen to me. Are you listening? I want you to feel me breathe. I want you to match me, okay? Breathe in…one, two, three… breathe out… one, two, three… again, breathe in… one, two, three… breathe out… one, two, three…”

He wasn’t sure how long they continued like that, how long it was before Astoria’s panic attack had subsided, but the shoreline was in site and the clouds had finally dissipated. The sky was an almost unearthly blue after having spent so long in the gray.

Draco leaned back and pulled Astoria’s head up until they were face-to-face. He wiped under her eyes with the pads of his thumbs.

“Sorry.”

He smiled at her, his precious wife who’d moved the clouds with her tears. “You have nothing to be sorry about. We can’t always help what we’re afraid of, no matter how irrational that fear is.”

Tori snorted and smacked him in the arm. “It’s not irrational!”

It absolutely was irrational. They were wizards. If anything, they could just apparate back to shore. But Astoria was laughing again and her skin was regaining its color, so Draco didn’t bother correcting her.

“I’m sorry about cutting our trip short though,” she said, her voice going soft again. “I know how much you were looking forward to it.”

Draco leaned down and picked up her silly hat from the boat floor. He placed it on top of her head and pulled the ends toward his face so he could kiss her quickly on the lips.

“That’s alright, I’ve gotten my fill of the sea. We can go home now.”

He didn’t need the real blues of the ocean that stretched out beyond the canvas.

Because the blues of her eyes went on endlessly.


	11. Unspoken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Color] Green  
> Word Count- 649

All those that would have graduated Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1998 (if that year hadn’t been a complete and utter disaster) were invited to attend their ten-year reunion.

The eight Slytherins (Draco, Theo, Greg, Blaise, Daphne, Pansy, Millicent, and Tracey) hemmed and hawed for months before the date arrived. The leading sentiment amongst the group was that though they might have been invited, they were surely not welcome.

“So why go?” Draco asked during one of their bimonthly get-togethers.

“What else have you got to do?” countered Astoria, taking a sip of her cocktail. The question was innocuous, but everyone heard the taunt her voice. 

Cowards, the lot of you.

So they went.

And by some unspoken agreement, they had all arrived wearing different shades of green.

Draco’s hunter green robes contrasted beautifully with the sea-foam green dress Astoria made for just this occasion. Theo’s tie matched Luna’s bright turquoise ruffled gown, a clear combination of Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Goyle wore forest green, Millie wore olive, and Trace was in jade. Pansy’s bright lime green pant suit would have looked ridiculous on anyone else, but she managed to pull it off with all the confidence befitting a Parkinson.

Blaise glanced at his wife in her mint green satin gown and silver jewelry. Daphne looked like a goddess. And personally, Blaise Zabini thought he looked best in royal purple, but emerald green was a close second.

They created an impenetrable green wave as they entered the Great Hall in masse, their heads held high. The other houses could interpret their matching attire however they wished. Blaise was proud to walk amongst this group, a new kind of Slytherin pride coursing through his veins.

They were no longer the Slytherins who fought for The Dark Lord, who considered muggles to be filth, who took their parents’ word as gospel. Blaise was embarrassed by his youthful ignorance, by his horrible attitude toward those he’d once deemed lesser than.

Now, all he wanted was to have fun with his family. 

He had a gorgeous wife in Daphne Greengrass and an incorrigible sister in Astoria. His brother-in-law was quickly losing the “in-law” part of his moniker despite Blaise’s best efforts to dislike His Royal Highness, Draco Malfoy. Pansy was like a deranged cousin who told all the best drunken stories. Greg was a stoic uncle when Blaise needed silence for a moment. Millicent and Tracey were always available if he needed sage advice. 

And Theo had been family since they met on the train to Hogwarts. Theo Nott was Blaise’s best friend, his forever companion, his ride or die, his soul mate. He’d never said this out loud, of course, but that’s because Theo already knew. They didn’t need words. Their bond went unspoken.

And yes, even Luna bloody Lovegood was family, now. Blaise rolled his eyes as the girl dragged Theo over toward Potter and Weasley, her dove earrings actually cooing as she walked.

Pansy was trying to get Greg to dance. Millie and Tracey were making approving sounds at the sight of Hannah Abbot’s engagement ring.

Astoria was feeding Draco cake for some reason while he glared at her like a grumpy cat.

Daphne looped her arm in his. A small smile appeared on her face as they stared at each other.

“Do you miss it?” she asked.

Hogwarts had been a safe haven for Blaise. His mother was a madwoman who’d nearly destroyed him growing up. It was these Slytherins here that glued him back together.

It was Daphne Greengrass with her golden hair and her demure lips and her cold blue eyes that only went soft when she looked at him.

The answer to her question went unspoken as he led his understanding wife toward Pansy and an uncomfortable-looking Greg.

How can I miss something if I still have it?


	12. No Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Color] Black  
> Word Count- 488

“You can see Cygnus right there. See how it looks sort of like wings?”

Astoria looked up at the endless black that stretched in every direction. She curled up closer into Draco’s side on the picnic blanket and hummed. “Looks more like a dragon than Draco does.”

“It’s actually a swan.”

“My my, who knew Draco Malfoy was such a nerd for astronomy? Well… I suppose with a name like Draco…”

Draco twisted with a sigh and ducked down to mouth at her neck. “You’re.” Kiss. “So.” Kiss. “Hilarious.” Then he started tickling her.

“NO, STOP! Aah! Draco!”

She giggled and shuffled out of his reach, lifting up a leg and pressing a foot against his chest to stop him. “Fine. I won’t make fun of you anymore.” She smiled up at him, the moon making a perfect halo behind his head, and the inky black sky looked like a picture frame. “Besides… I was enjoying the lesson. Do continue.”

Draco smirked and flopped back down beside her, an arm curling around her shoulder in a clear invitation to return to the crook of his body. She fit herself so nicely there, as if the space in the dip of his waist was made specifically for her.

“Alright, see where the head of Cygnus is pointing, those five stars that sort of look like a child’s drawing of a house. That’s Cepheus.”

“Uh-huh. I remember a little from Astronomy. It’s named after some King, right?”

“Yeah, the king of Aethiopia. And that king was married to Cassiopeia. Her constellation is right next to his, those five stars there that make a… squiggle, I guess.”

“An ‘M’?” Tori suggested. “Like for Malfoy.”

Draco laughed. “I always did think Cassiopeia would make a nice girl’s name.”

“No girls.”

The silence stretched for a long moment and in that moment, Astoria thought she hadn’t actually said that thought out loud. Then…

“No girls?”

Tori continued to look up at the vast blackness as she explained. She cleared her throat. “The— the malediction— it can only be passed down to girls. So, we— we can only have boys, understand?”

“You can’t—“ Draco stopped mid-sentence. He rubbed her bare shoulder with his thumb, and it calmed her enough to look at him. He was looking right back at her. “It’s a 50/50 chance, love. You can’t just choose the gender.”

“I am a stubborn witch and I get what I want,” Tori refuted. “We will have a boy, and I will hear no different.”

Draco’s silver eyes sparkled in the moonlight. He turned on his side until they were lying with their temples touching and their legs intertwined.

“Well, I do like the name Scorpius.”

Astoria laughed, her body flooding with relief. “That name is ridiculous. He will be laughed out of Hogwarts.” She leaned forward and kissed Draco softly on his lips under the dark black sky. “It’s perfect.”


	13. The Stupid Fork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Object] Fork  
> Word Count- 738

“I swear to Merlin, if our waiter doesn’t return with our food soon, I will eat this fork.”

Draco would have laughed at absurdity of his wife’s statement, but they’d been at the restaurant for four bloody hours and he was about to take that fork from Astoria and stab the next person he saw with it.

“I can not believe how slow the service here is,” Draco growled. “What, do they have to fish the lobster out of the ocean or something?!”

Astoria glanced over her right shoulder where the sun had set over the bay hours ago. “It was a nice thought,” she said, turning back to give Draco a supportive grin.

Draco rolled his eyes and rested his palm over Astoria’s on the table. He threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed tenderly. “I’m so sorry. What a way to spend our first anniversary, huh?”

“I don’t know,” Astoria replied, her grin turning a little lopsided as she squeezed his hand back. “I find that even when we’re experiencing something terrible, it ends up as a wonderful adventure so long as we’re together.”

Draco shook his head, his cheeks heating in the candlelight. She was always saying things like that. What did he do to deserve her? What did he do to deserve a year of marriage with her?

“Madam, Monsieur.”

“Finally!” Draco blurted out, and he couldn’t find himself regretting the exclamation. He was way too hungry to consider decorum, especially with this night’s shoddy service. Honestly, he just wanted to eat his shellfish and go home.

The waiter placed the lobster dishes down in front of each of them and made a hasty retreat. Good riddance.

Draco tucked into his meal right away. At least the food was delicious. Maybe they could salvage this night after all.

***

Draco held back Astoria’s hair as she vomited into the toilet.

“I shouldn’t have eaten it… I knew it was a bad idea, I knew it…” Astoria babbled in between dry heaves.

Draco ran a hand through her blonde hair, brushing the tangles out with his fingers. Then he set to braiding it for lack of anything better to do. Finally, Astoria laid her sweat-soaked forehead on the toilet seat— gross— and set to evening out her breaths. Draco stood up to run the flannel under the faucet for a moment and then draped the damp cloth along the back of Astoria’s neck.

“You alright?” he asked, carefully curling some of her hair out of her face with a pointer finger.

“Mmm.”

“Can you believe your beloved sea life turned on you?”

Astoria snorted. She dragged her hand along the tile floor and inched it up the porcelain toilet until she was able to reach down the cleavage of her gown. She pulled out a fork. “I will stab you, Malfoy,” she said, blindly jabbing the silver utensil in his vague direction.

“Whoa now. Where in the world— did you steal that from the restaurant?”

“Yes,” Astoria answered, her face still smushed into the toilet seat. “I wanted it.”

Draco blinked. “Why?” he asked, perplexed.

Astoria raised her head up slightly and looked at Draco through smeared mascara rimmed eyes. “Because I was holding it when I realized.”

Draco felt his legs give out and he dropped into a seated position on the floor beside Astoria. “Realized what?”

Astoria’s lips slowly curled up into a smile, and the hand still holding that stupid fork brushed over the slight curve of her belly. She glanced down at her stomach and then back up at Draco, her eyes alight and twinkling with happiness.

Draco’s eyes flitted over his wife’s appearance for several long seconds. When he ultimately met her gaze, his worry gave way to elation. “Oh… OH!”

“Best anniversary gift ever,” Astoria whispered.

Draco’s eyes welled up with tears. They were going to… they were…

He reached for his wife’s hand, and brought the back of her palm to his lips, kissing it exuberantly. Still clutched in her fist was that ridiculous stolen fork.

“We must get this fork framed!” he announced as Astoria giggled through her happy tears.

The fork was framed in a glass box a week later and placed prominently on the fireplace mantle as a symbol of the wonderful disaster that was Draco and Astoria’s first wedding anniversary.

And there it remained, long after its thief had been buried six feet under.


	14. Gorgeous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Object] Pearl  
> Word Count- 1063

Astoria smoothed over the stomach of her midnight blue velvet dress and smiled at the little bump her pregnant belly created. 

Draco exited the ensuite fiddling with his bowtie. “I hate these things.”

“Bowties or galas?” she asked, smirking at him through the reflection in the mirror.

“Both,” he replied, grinning back at her. “You look gorgeous.”

Astoria spun around with a wide grin and pulled her husband closer by the lapels of his tuxedo. She shooed his hands away and began knotting the tie for him. “So do you.”

“Well, I’m always gorgeous.”

She glanced up at him, her gaze dark. “Are you saying I’m not always gorgeous?”

Draco winced. “Hmm… talked myself into a bit of trouble there, didn’t I?”

She finished the knot and patted Draco on his chest, a little more forceful than was probably warranted. “Just a bit.”

Draco leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “You are and always will be the most gorgeous woman on the planet.”

“Better. Keep talking…”

“Your dress is missing something.”

Astoria narrowed her eyes, befuddled by the non sequitur. “Okay… not what I thought you’d say—“

Draco glided away form her mid sentence. He strode toward their chest of drawers where they kept their jewelry. Astoria huffed, perching a fist on her hip and glaring daggers at her husband until he turned around to face her, his right hand hidden behind his back. Astoria simply raised a contemptuous eyebrow.

He shuffled from foot to foot in a nervous manner. “Uh— close your eyes.”

Astoria snorted. “I know what my necklaces look like. I was just over there a few seconds ago—”

“Just close your eyes.”

Astoria stopped, curiosity outweighing her earlier annoyance. She stared at Draco for a long moment before finally doing as he said. She took a deep breath and let her eyelids flutter shut.

Astoria heard Draco take the few steps toward her, felt him maneuver her until she was facing the mirror once more. He leaned in close over her left shoulder. “Lift up your hair,” he commanded in her ear. It sent goose pimples down her back. 

Tori lifted her arms and pulled her long blonde hair up and away from the nape of her neck. She felt Draco’s hands sneak through the gaps in her arms and heard the soft tinkling of a thin chain as he worked the clasp behind her head. A heavy pendant fell against her chest and her eyes flew open at the odd familiarity of its weight.

She gasped.

Draco dropped his head behind her frame so she wouldn’t be able to see him in the reflection of the mirror as he finished hooking the clasp of the chain together. But she wasn’t looking at him— couldn’t look at him. Her entire focus was on the pearl pendant that rested just above her heart.

“I— how— wha—“

Draco peeked his head up over her shoulder and smiled warily at her reflection. “I thought it would look good with your dress. It used to look so good with your school robes.”

Astoria whirled around, clutching her pendant firmly in her grasp. “How did you fix it?”

Draco ran a hand through his hair— he was going to be so upset when he had to fix it again before they left for the gala— and shrugged sheepishly. “Let’s just say I owe a big favor to a very, very good curse-breaker.” He teetered from foot to foot, searching Astoria’s face for something. “I just— its just been broken for so long, lying in that drawer of yours and I couldn’t— I mean… Is it okay that I did this?”

Astoria stirred from her state of shock and stared up at her husband with wide eyes. “Is it okay? Are you kidding? I’m so— this is so… amazing! When did you decide to do this?”

She watched as relief flooded Draco’s features. “It was supposed to be completed in time for our anniversary, but the curse on it was stronger than the we thought.”

“It took them an additional three months?”

“Well, to be fair, I had to keep bringing it home so you wouldn’t notice its absence.”

She was going to counter that he could have just told her his plan and then he wouldn’t have had to worry about it, but… well, she probably would have told him not to bother. And that would have been a shame.

Astoria laughed as she turned back around to stare at the pendant in the mirror. She ran her fingertips over the pearls welded into the pendant and along the bottom of the chain. 

This necklace that had once been her mother’s had been hexed from her neck during her fifth year at Hogwarts. The Carrows didn’t condone embellishments of the school uniform in their class… if you could even call that hour of literal torture they were subjected to every other a day a class. Thankfully, she was able to keep the necklace, but later found it could never be worn again. For years, she’d gone to a number of jewelers located in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley for help, but none of them could break the unwearable curse.

“Your curse-breaker must be something else,” Astoria marveled, as her husband wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, meeting her gaze in the mirror. “You must thank them for me. Who was it?”

Draco cleared his throat. “Oh, uh— Bill Weasley.”

“Bill Weasley?! That’s—“

The Malfoys and the Weasleys had always disliked each other. The contention between the two families went back centuries. For Draco to owe a favor to Bill Weasley…

Tori slowly grinned, love blossoming in her chest. “Wow. I really must be the most gorgeous woman on the planet.”

“And you always will be,” he agreed. Draco smirked and turned his head to leave a soft kiss against her neck. Then he righted himself and glared at his reflection. "Now, I have to go fix my hair so we can attend this stupid gala,” he growled before retreating to the ensuite toilet.

“We can be fashionably late, darling!” she called after him. “Take your time!”

Astoria smoothed her hand over the pendant and down over her small baby bump. She stared at her smile in the mirror.

Astoria Malfoy had never looked happier.


	15. The Next Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Dialogue] “Why does being a good girl always have to be such hard work?”  
> Word Count- 454

Astoria tossed and turned in the bed. She was too hot. The she was too cold. Draco snored. She shoved him away. Then she pulled him close, turned on her side, and rested one of her legs over his body, her giant baby bump nestled between them.

“Sweetheart,” mumbled Draco in his half-asleep state.

“What?!” she snapped. “If I can’t sleep, you can’t sleep.”

Draco heaved a deep sigh against his pillowcase. “That sounds fair.”

Tori growled. “Your son keeps kicking me.”

“Oh, now he’s my son?” Draco asked, curling an arm around his wife and letting Tori use him like a pillow. She happily did so. “But yesterday, when we were painting his room, he was your son.”

“You wanted to paint his room green and silver, Draco,” she reminded him. “I’m as Slytherin as the next girl, but right out of the womb is a little early to be deciding his whole future.”

Draco hummed and buried his face back into their pillows. A few moments later, he was snoring again.

Astoria sighed. At least Scorpius had stopped kicking her stomach. He always stopped when Draco was near.

He was going to be such a daddy’s boy.

***

“What is this?”

“Egg whites on whole wheat toast.”

Astoria glared at her plate. “Scorpius wants fehttuchini alfredo.”

“For breakfast?”

“I don’t know.” Astoria shrugged. “He’s a weird kid.”

Draco narrowed his eyes at her from across the kitchen table for a long moment before standing up and excusing himself from the dining room.

“Where are you going?!” she called out after his retreating figure.

“To make pasta!”

Astoria grinned. “Love you!”

“Uh-huh!”

***

“Can I just have some of your tea?”

“We agreed on only two cups of caffeinated tea a week,” Draco said, not looking up from that morning’s issue of the Daily Prophet as he sipped from his teacup.

“But this herbal stuff is really gross.”

“Just be a good girl and drink it.”

Astoria huffed and grimaced at the disgusting cup of herbal tea in her hands. “Why does being a good girl always have to be such hard work?” she grumbled.

***

Scorpius Malfoy was born January 13th in the middle of a blizzard. The birth went smoothly. He had ten fingers and ten toes. He was a healthy eight pounds, with little tufts of white-blond hair, and blue eyes that matched the color of his newly painted bedroom.

The parents returned home with their bundle of joy, excited for the next chapter in their lives.

However, when they returned to St. Mungo’s a week later for Astoria’s checkup, they discovered that that next next chapter in their lives… well… 

It was about to get a whole lot darker.


	16. Let It Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Dialogue] “We are women. And women are warriors, after all.”  
> Word Count- 710

Draco had practically sprinted from the room at the sound of Scorpius’s cries. 

He wasn’t proud of it, but if he stayed there as Astoria told all of their friend that she was… she was…

Nope.

He was glad for the excuse that was Scorpius Malfoy.

Draco gathered his son into his arms, rocking him gently and murmuring silly gratitudes into the soft whips of his white-blond hair. “Daddy loves you,” he whispered. “He does. He loves you so much.”

All too soon, Scorpius was back asleep.

And now Draco had no plan.

He settled his son back into the little basinet that Astoria’s father had built for him with his own two hands… Astoria’s father, who was currently seated in their living room, crying because his daughter was… she was…

Draco escaped out onto the balcony and scaled the trellis down into their communal garden. He snuck around the side of the house and ran right into Pansy.

“Salazar’s ghost! Pans, what are you— Are you smoking?”

“Shut up,” Pansy said, futilely trying to hide the cigarette from view before ultimately giving up. She returned the cigarette to her lips and took a drag, shrugging with false nonchalance. “All aurors smoke.”

Draco raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “Harry Potter smokes?”

Pansy leveled him with a devilish smirk. “Don’t tell Ginny.”

Draco let out a chuckle. It felt so foreign in his throat after the month of hell he’d just had. “Oh, but the she-Weasel and I are like this,” Draco joked, crossing his middle finger over his pointer finger. “We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

Pansy brought her cigarette-less hand to her chest, feigning hurt. “But I thought I was your best girl.”

“Sorry Pans,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “You’ve been replaced.”

Pansy chuckled which was then followed by a long stretch of awkward silence. He had to watch as Pansy’s smile dimmed, the events of that afternoon having returned to the forefront of her thoughts. Draco sighed as Pansy flicked red-rimmed eyes to meet his gaze.

“Cigarette?” she offered, already reaching toward her handbag, but Draco shook his head. She nodded and they returned to the silence.

Draco leaned against brick wall of the old house he’d bought for Astoria a week after she’d agreed to marry him. That seemed so long ago now. But not long enough.

He took a deep breath and looked in the direction of their front door where just on the other side, Astoria was explaining how she was… she was…

“I can’t go back in there,” he admitted aloud, his eyes glued to the cobblestone path beneath his feet. “Does that make me an awful husband? Maybe I should go back… Maybe, she needs me—“

“She’s fine,” Pansy interrupted, a perfectly manicured hand resting on his shoulder. He sagged further into the wall, trying to stave off the hysterics for as long as possible.

“How do you know that? I mean, are you okay?” His question sounded bitter, but he hadn’t meant it to. He had to hope that Pansy, the only person outside his mother who’d known him the longest in this world, would understand that he’d meant no offense.

“I’m fine too,” she said, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “We are both fine, because we are women. And women are warriors, after all.”

Draco felt the tears prick at the corners of his eyes, but he could hold off a bit longer. He could.

“What about the men?” he asked.

For a long time, Pansy didn’t say a word. If it wasn’t for the consistent pressure on his shoulder, Draco could have sworn she’d left. He’d never heard her so quiet before.

Finally, she leaned down and scraped her cigarette out on the cobblestones. “I think the men should let it out.”

Draco squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Nope.

Nope.

No.

No.

No…

“She’s dying.”

The words were pulled from his lungs like the cry of a tortured man. He burst into tears and sank to his knees.

Pansy stood between his thighs and ran a hand through his long blond hair.

“I know, sweetie,” she murmured, as he buried his face into her thighs and wept. “I know.”


	17. I Know That Look

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Dialogue] “I don’t know how people pretend to be something they’re not; it takes so much effort.”  
> Word Count- 1037

“Oh, hold on. I have something for you.”

Draco had barely walked through the door when his Aunt Andromeda suddenly sprinted up the stairs, spry for a woman of her age. When his aunt returned, she handed him a little velvet box. “This was my mother’s and it rightly belongs to Narcissa’s children, not mine.”

Draco stared at the box in his hands, flummoxed by its existence. “I— well—

“Now don’t wait up,” Andromeda interrupted. “Your mother and I won’t be back until morning. There’s a casserole in the cooler and Teddy’s already asleep for the night, so you most likely won’t have to worry about him too much. Thank you so much for watching him though. He usually stays with his Godfather, but Harry and Ginny are visiting the States for some auror convention. You’re a good boy.”

Draco could barely keep up with his aunt as she whirled around her house, slipping on a pair of heels and fixing her hair in the foyer mirror. He barely understood a word of what she was saying, still bewildered by the strange box in his hands.

“Alright, how do I look?”

Draco blinked, taking in the sight of his aunt. She looked a lot a like her sister, Bellatrix. He didn’t think Andromeda would like to hear that comparison, though.

“Uh, great. You look great.”

Andromeda beamed and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “Love you. Be good.”

And with that, his aunt was gone, off to meet his mother at some function the old biddies club they’d joined a few years back was throwing.

Once he was alone in his aunt’s house, Draco sank heavily onto the sofa and held the box up to the light. Slowly, ever so slowly, he opened the box to view the ring inside.

“Wow.” 

He quickly shut the cube with a loud snap and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. He eyed it with a wariness, as if it might suddenly grow teeth and threaten to bite him.

“Oh, I know that look.”

Draco glanced up from the ring box to meet the gaze of a young pink-haired girl in her portrait. Nymphadora Tonks, the cousin he’d never met, smirked down at him.

“What look?”

Tonks grinned knowingly. “That look that says, ‘No one will ever love me.’”

Draco scowled at his cousin. “What do you know?

“Far too often, I saw that look in my husband’s eyes. Even after we were married, I’d sometimes catch that twisted sadness.” Her voice became a little melancholic as she reminisced.

Draco thought about his old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in his shabby clothes and the faded white scars that marked his face. Tonks had married that man, had begged him to be with her, in fact. Why did Remus Lupin think himself so unloveable when Tonks had practically showered him with devotion?

Why did Draco have that same look now?

“He thought he was a monster,” Tonks replied to his unasked questions, as if she had been reading his thoughts. She rolled her lime green eyes in their frame. “Such a silly man.”

Draco looked down at his left arm where the scars of the dark mark still marred his pale skin. “Maybe we are monsters.”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake!” Draco startled at Tonks’s exclamation. She glared at him from her place upon the wall and Draco couldn’t tear his gaze away from hers. “Monster is such a strong word. What is it about you men calling yourself such a horribly untrue name? Is it like a martyrdom thing? I really don’t get it.”

Draco blinked, his mind reeling over Tonks’s questions. Why did he do that? “I—“ Draco had no idea how he was going to finish that sentence.

“Look, take it from a Metamorphmagus,” Tonks said, her hair turning purple in the frame as she motioned to herself with a wave of her hand. “Even I don’t know how people pretend to be something they’re not; it takes so much effort!”

Draco laughed despite his glum mood. His cousin’s grin widened, resembling a cheshire cat. He really wished in that moment that he’d actually gotten to know her, that he was speaking to the real Tonks and not a snapshot of her personality in a silver frame.

Tonks smirked again. “Now, I’m not saying to forget your past mistakes. You’ll have to live with those, dear cousin.”

Draco sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

“But those mistakes aren’t all you are,” Tonk continued. “You have loads more to offer, to yourself… and others.”

Draco glanced back down at the little velvet box on the coffee table. He thought of Blaise and Daphne, of their wedding next month. He thought of Theo starting a relationship with Luna Lovegood of all people. He thought of Teddy Lupin asleep in the next room, the product of a love he would only ever know through stories.

He thought of Astoria Greengrass.

“Thank you.” The words were said in an awed kind of whisper for he was ever so grateful for this advice from a stranger— from this advice from family.

“Oh, I know that look.”

“What look?” Draco asked again, his eyes still on that box.

“The look of someone about to do something a little insane.”

Draco smiled devilishly as he picked up the ring box and slipped it into the pocket of his robes. “Maybe.”

“Wow. I am such a good influence.”

Draco laughed again and glanced up to meet his cousin’s eyes. “Yeah. You’re the best.”

***

Her ring kept slipping off her finger. She’d lost so much weight in the past couple of months.

Draco fashioned a silver chain and looped the ring onto it. He raised Astoria to a sitting position and fastened the clasp around her neck so that the ring could fall beside her pearl pendant. Ever so gently he laid her back down, her blue eyes meeting his as he leaned over her in the candlelit room. She looked beautiful, even now.

“I know that look,” she mumbled, half-asleep.

Draco swallowed. “What look?”

She smiled, her eyelids drooping. She fell asleep before he got his answer.


	18. Sincerely, Mum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Quote] “Powerful women are often threatening to insecure men.”  
> Word Count- 528

Astoria took a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth. Then, she nodded at her Quick-Quotes Quill.

“Scorpius,” she began, lulled by the scratch of the quill on parchment paper.

“I wish I could watch you grow up,” she continued. “I wish I could see the man you’ll one day be. I wish you didn’t have to live without your mother. I wish for a lot of things.

“I know this can’t make up for my not being there when you need me, but your cousin Teddy suggested I write you letters, like the ones he wished he got from his mum. Your father has promised to give them on the date specified on the envelope, so… I suppose we’ll start here.

“Hi sweetie. Happy eleventh birthday. I know you’ll be starting Hogwarts in September. I hope you are excited. And I hope your father hasn’t been pressuring you with a bunch of Slytherin nonsense. He will be proud of you whichever house you end up in, okay? And you will be amazing no matter what, I promise. 

“But if you do end up in Slytherin, just know what a great group they are, and how lucky you are to be part of such an amazing house. Don’t let anyone tell you that Slytherins can’t be whoever they want to be. They can.

“I’m not sure what Hogwarts will be like for you as the son of Draco Malfoy. You’ll probably hear… you’ll probably hear some things about him that you might not like. You tell those people that you forgive them as they are children just as your father was a child. And children make mistakes.

“I want you to make amazing friends. And I want you to make friends with whoever you like. Don’t let old prejudices sway you. Don’t let house divisions sway you. Don’t let gender sway you, either. Only insecure boys refuse to make friends with girls. And I think every boy needs a girl to tell them the honest truth. They grow up to be much better men, I think. Your father might not have been the same without your Aunt Pansy. Your Uncle Theo had your Aunt Daphne. And even the great Harry Potter wouldn’t have been the same without Hermione Granger. Heed my advice on this one. Make a female friend. A powerful one.

“There’s so much I wish I could say to you, so much advice I want to give. I could fill pages and pages with my love for you. And I will. I’ll write a thousand letters so if you ever need to hear from your mum, a part of me will always be there. I can’t say my advice will always be pertinent to the problem at hand. I’m not a seer, darling. But I’ll try. For you.

“I’ve decided at the end of each of my letters, I’ll add a question that you should ask your dad. Tonight, I want you to ask that he tell the story of how he and I got engaged. He’ll tell it better than I ever could.

“I love you so much.

“Sincerely, Mum.”


	19. An Understanding Nod

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Quote] "They never believe in us until it’s too late."  
> Word Count- 1049  
> Warnings- discussions about death, mentions of murder, implied abuse

Theo opened the door to his cottage for Draco Malfoy. “Morning,” he greeted.

“Good morning,” replied Draco in kind. 

It had been a surprise to both Theo and Luna when they received a letter from Draco Malfoy the night before asking if he could come to their place for a visit while Astoria and Scorpius visited with her dad for the day. Luna had been delighted. Theo had been confused.

“Luna’s in Diagon Alley picking up groceries for lunch, but she’ll be back in a bit,” explained Theo. Draco nodded his head in understanding. Theo shifted slightly from foot to foot in the frame of his front door. “I have to go feed the beasts. Do you… want to come with?”

Draco nodded his head again and the two headed out into the fields surrounding the Nott/Lovegood property.

Theo went to work. 

He spread seeds for the fire-breathing chickens and fwoopers (tomorrow he’d have to reinforce their silencing charm; the month was almost up). He poured an ant farm into a trough for the occamy. He stuck his head in the wrackspurt clearing, thinking positive thoughts. 

Draco had looked at him strangely then, but he was mostly quiet while Theo went about his morning routine. 

That is, until they came upon the clearing with the two thestrals.

“When in the world did you get those?”

Theo grinned as he tossed a cow leg over the barrier. “Luna and I are fostering Hades, here, while he recovers. Apparently he got struck by a pretty nasty curse during a wizards duel in Belgium. They hadn’t seen him and Hades’ wing was damaged pretty badly.” Theo tossed the other leg over the barrier for the female. “And Kore refused to leave Hades’ side. She was a stubborn thing, so we had to take them both. I’m actually studying them.”

“Oh?”

Theo used an aguamenti spell to help clear the cow’s blood from his hands. “Yeah. I’m writing a book on them.”

Draco’s expression took on one of curious pride. “Really?”

Theo shrugged, his smile going shy. “Very little is known about Thestrals. Most people don’t even believe they exist until it’s too late. There’s so much knowledge about these creatures yet to be discovered, you know?”

“Yeah, wow. That’s… pretty amazing, Theo. They still creep me out a bit, though,” admitted Draco.

“Yeah, they used to scare the shite out of me, too,” Theo agreed, chuckling. “But now… I’m not sure if I’d be with Luna without them. The way we both grew up being able to see them when no one else could… it brought us together in a weird way. And now that most of the population in England can see them, there should probably be more books about them, right?”

Theo took a seat on a bench outside the barn. “Yeah,” Draco said, joining him. They sat it silence for a moment. “Do you think Scorpius will see them?”

Theo stared at his beasts as they ate their breakfast. He loved them. “Nah. He’s still to young to comprehend death like that.”

“But didn’t your mum die in childbirth?”

Theo’s gaze flashed to Draco’s, and the blond immediately began apologizing.

“No, sorry. I didn’t— you don’t have to—“ Draco winced. 

Draco Malfoy, Theo mused. He’d really grown up to be a good man. Theo wondered who he had to thank for this transformation from pompous bully to considerate father. But maybe… maybe it was just Draco.

“She did, yeah.”

Draco blinked at him. “Oh. Then—“

“My mum’s death isn’t the reason I can see thestrals,” Theo explained, his gaze returning to the aforementioned beasts. They had curled around each other, their wings spread to catch the rising sun.

Theo could feel Draco’s restlessness beside him on the bench. The two of them sat in silence for another long moment. It was a little awkward. Theo and Draco had never really been… close.

“The reason I can see thestrals…” Draco’s voice faded out, but Theo waited, curious to see where this was going. He heard Draco swallow audibly. “The Dark Lord’s snake swallowed a professor on my dining table.”

Theo nodded his head. His father had written to him about that day. He’d waxed poetic about it, in fact. He’d been goading Theo, who’d taken refuge at the Greengrasses during the war, into sending a reply. It hadn’t worked. His father had been enraged with Theo for refusing to attend the death eater meetings and begging for the dark mark. 

Theo had never told Draco how grateful he was that Draco had taken the dark mark so Theo wouldn’t have to. He’d never thanked him. He probably never would.

“I watched my father beat our house elf to death,” said Theo.

The brunet waited a beat and then glanced at his blond companion out of the corner of his eye. Draco was nodding, as if he understood. And maybe he did. Maybe Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott understood each other better than anyone else in the whole world possibly could.

“So… do you think Scorpius will be okay?” Draco sounded absolutely wrecked. 

Poor man.

Astoria was like a sister to Theo. He still remembered the day she begged him to come stay with their family permanently, how she’d basically forced him to see how loved he was and how terrified she, Daphne, and Grayson were going to be for him if he tried to return home. If Theo turned out okay after being raised by his father, then Scorpius would be just fine.

“Are you planning on killing a house elf?”

Draco looked up at him, aghast. “No!”

Theo shrugged and returned his attention to the thestrals. “Then, Scorpius will be fine. He has you for a father.”

As the sun rose higher in the sky, Theo figured Luna was back by now. He rose to his feet and watched Draco do the same.

“Luna’s probably making some kind of crazy sandwich for lunch with who knows what in it. Just… be warned.”

Draco seemed lost in thought, but he did reply with a simple, “Thanks.”

Theo nodded his head. He understood that he was being thanked for far more than the stupid warning. 

Perhaps he’d return the favor one day.

But today, he simply replied, “You’re welcome.”


	20. The Truth About Happily Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- prompt used: [Quote] “That which we take for granted can so easily be taken away from us if we do not remain vigilant.”  
> Word count- 523  
> Warnings- Character death

Draco couldn’t sleep. Even if Scorpius didn’t keep him awake at night with his cries, Draco would remain awake anyway. Because he was needed at her bedside. He had to keep an eye on her.

Every moment left with Astoria was precious. She wasn’t really aware of her surroundings, in truth. The final stages of her curse had taken hold a few days ago and that stage was basically a coma. But Draco stayed by her side anyway.

He rubbed the pearl pendant she’d forced on him a month ago when things had started taking a turn for the worse. She made him promise to remember her whenever he saw it. 

He didn’t even hesitate with his oath.

Besides… as if he’d ever forget her, pearl pendant or not.

Draco hardly blinked while he watched her sleep. He figured the minute he let himself relax, she’d die. She’d die in the space between blinks and he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. So he watched her like a hawk. He refused to look away. He would not break eye contact. 

Vigilant was his middle name now.

Astoria died right before his eyes because he hadn’t looked away… He should have looked away.

Her last stuttering breath broke his heart. He leaned over and tried to kiss the life back into her. That’s how it worked in the fairytales. He was supposed to kiss her and she was supposed to open her eyes and heave a put-upon sigh.

He could picture it now; Astoria, opening her big blue eyes and smacking him in the arm multiple times. How dare you kiss an unconcious woman, Draco Malfoy, she’d say, an amused smile on her lips.

This wasn’t how their story was supposed to go. This wasn’t how it went for the mermaid prince Draco and the human farm-girl Astoria in his wife’s old teenage fiction. They lived happily ever after, so why couldn’t the universe have written wizard Draco and wizard Astoria a happy ending, too? 

They had magic, for Merlin’s sake! They were supposed to be able to fix anything! 

But sometimes, when the surface has been broken, there was no going back under. The truth was, in real life, happily ever afters were simply remembering much happier beginnings.

Scorpius began crying in his bassinet.

“I’ll be right there,” called Draco, even though his son couldn’t understand him. 

He didn’t get up right away. In fact, he didn’t move for an endlessly long moment. Then Draco leaned over and brushed a lock of his wife’s blond hair behind her ear. She looked peaceful.

He took a stuttered breath, rose from his seat, and finally tore his gaze away from Astoria. He closed his eyes, squeezed back tears, and opened them again. He strode to Scorpius’s crib, gathered his son into his arms, and left the room to floo St. Mungo’s Hospital.

Every move he made felt like an accomplishment, and despite the tragedy that had just occurred, Draco Malfoy felt a smile tug at corners of his mouth.

He could do this.

He could be the strongest man in the world.


	21. Alternate Ending: For My Mom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- My mom wanted an actual happily ever after. So this is for her. Happy Belated Mother’s Day, Mama.  
> Word Count- 205

Her last stuttering breath broke his heart. He leaned over and tried to kiss the life back into her. That’s how it worked in the fairytales. He was supposed to kiss her and she was supposed to open her eyes and heave a put-upon sigh.

…And that’s what she did.

Draco startled back into his seat, blinking several times as if this was some strange mirage. He pinched the skin of his forearm and it hurt. She was real.

Astoria turned on her side and coughed. It was the most beautiful sound Draco had ever heard. He stared with wide eyes as his beautiful wife rubbed at her face, her cheeks having gained some color back in them. She looked… she looked fine.

“What happened?” she asked, looking around their bedroom.

Draco couldn’t catch his breath. He couldn’t… He couldn’t believe…

“I think— I don’t— I might have just witnessed a miracle,” spluttered Draco.

Astoria slowly rose into a seated position and took stock of her limbs, her chest, her head. And then she looked up at Draco and smiled.

“I might have just experienced a miracle.”

Scorpius began crying in his bassinet.

But everything was fine.

And the Malfoys lived happily ever after.


End file.
